• Moonguide
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    1 year ago

    I’m not from the states so I don’t have no skin in the game, but correct me if I’m wrong, weren’t ISPs responsible for upgrading the country’s network, given a large amount of money, and just sat on their asses or something? I remember something to that effect.

    • _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Yes, they got almost half a TRILLION dollars from tax payers in various forms to roll out nationwide fiber, but did not roll out nationwide fiber. Never mind the absolutely ludicrous prices they charge along with crazy bullshit like data caps, throttling, and lying about advertised speeds.

  • knfrmity@lemmygrad.ml
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    1 year ago

    Great idea. They’ve taken advantage of cheap publicily subsidized infrastructure for far too long while making obscene profits. This is a great idea, as long as the infrastructure itself and the operator/service provider is collectivized as well.

    Can we collectivize big tech while we’re at it?

  • kulta@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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    1 year ago

    So ISPs are charging an arm and a leg, but they’re saying others should pay? I’d love to be in a business where someone else pays for my business expenses and I keep the revenue.

    • guyman@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      ISPs are desperate to cling on, but they’re really just going the way of cable. They didn’t care to improve their infrastructure, so now they’re fading into irrelevance as mobile data gets faster and more reliable.

  • 133arc585
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    1 year ago

    This type of logic only makes sense in the case of public utilities, not privately owned companies.

    What do they think we’re paying for? I don’t see how the non-amortized costs (ie, non-infrastructure-buildout costs) could ever approach the amount they pull in revenue. This also ignores the fact that the telcos have gotten somewhere in the double-digit billions of dollars (iirc, around $40B) in taxpayer money to build out fiber infrastructure, that they never delivered on. What are they using this money for? What are they using their subscription revenue for?

      • 133arc585
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        1 year ago

        Thanks for the correction, I almost wish I didn’t know how bad it was!

        • _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          Yeah, it’s kinda mind blowing unfortunately. Regulatory capture really undermines the public services that our taxes are supposed to be paying for.

  • jmp242@sopuli.xyz
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    1 year ago

    I maintain this is an absurd idea. Everyone pays for their internet access. Presumably smart business people would build into that price some funding for upgrades over time.

  • _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    We already paid the ISPs to do this many times over, but they kept the money for profits instead of using it to build out infrastructure like they were supposed to.

  • FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    How about that time ISPs got like half a trillion for building out broadband and then they didn’t do much of anything with it?